Chapter 171: Bet You Didn't Expect This—The Whole Town Is Mine
The vast sea stretched endlessly, its blue waters shimmering silver beneath the morning light…
A young fisherman was busy arranging his nets, preparing to head out and cast his lines.
"Hey, fisherman!"
Uchiha Jiangshu looked at the small fishing boat—barely large enough for five people—with open disdain. "Are you taking that boat out to sea?"
"You sure speak strangely for an elder," the fisherman chuckled as he tossed the net onto the boat. "If I don't go out to sea, are you going to feed me?"
Hearing that, Jiangshu frowned deeply. Rural bumpkins and commoners—no sense of rank or propriety whatsoever…
But for the sake of safety, he couldn't be picky right now!
"Tch. I'll give you one thousand ryo. Take us out to sea." Suppressing his disgust at the fishy stench, Jiangshu tossed the silver before the fisherman.
"What are you doing?" Faced with such a large sum, the young fisherman looked flustered and waved his hands repeatedly. "If you want sightseeing, you should take a bigger vessel. My little boat can't go very far! And it's not worth that much money!"
"If I'm paying you, just sail. So much nonsense!" Pinching his nose, Jiangshu climbed into the boat and shoved the fishing nets aside in disgust. "Move this pile of trash out of the way!"
The more the fisherman tried to refuse, the more determined Jiangshu became to board this boat. Of course, if he weren't worried that Li Jiexuan might have tampered with the larger shipping companies in town, he would never have stooped to riding such a shabby vessel and getting drenched in fish stink.
"Alright, alright—whatever you say, sir!" Afraid Jiangshu might damage the nets, the young fisherman hurried over, removed them, rolled them into a bundle, and hung them off the side of the boat.
Uchiha Menwei climbed aboard shakily. For some reason, even though everything seemed to be going smoothly and his grandfather was right beside him, his fear only deepened—as if death itself were drawing closer with every passing second.
"What are you trembling for?" Jiangshu slapped him across the face in frustration. "You think Li Jiexuan can cover the sky with one hand?"
"Gulp…"
Menwei held his cheek and gave a timid nod.
Seeing this, the young fisherman smiled faintly as he rowed. "So, gentlemen, what exactly are you heading out for? How far do you plan to go?"
Jiangshu waved impatiently. "Just get us away from the shore. If there's somewhere to set foot, even better. This lousy boat stinks to high heaven…"
He had never taken the Anbu mission seriously to begin with. He didn't believe for a second that they had truly discovered the whereabouts of the S-rank criminal Kakuzu. It was nothing more than one of Li Jiexuan's tricks!
He had already decided to drift at sea for a while and call it a day.
"Got it. I know of a small reef island that would be perfect!" The fisherman smiled as he rowed. Before long, a tiny reef appeared in the distance. Several massive rocks clustered together to form a small island—about a hundred square meters in size, just enough to stand on…
"Hmm. Not bad."
The boat reached shore. Jiangshu was just about to turn around and offer the fisherman some praise when he suddenly realized—
"He's gone!"
Jiangshu shot to his feet. The fisherman, who had been rowing right behind them moments ago, had vanished without a trace. Yet the blue sea was calm and undisturbed, as if nothing had happened…
But the calmer it was, the more terrifying it felt—like a suffocating stillness slowly tightening around their throats.
"Grandpa, what's going on?" Menwei was on the verge of tears.
Jiangshu looked around in disbelief. "No… impossible. I picked that fishing boat at random. How could we be this unlucky?"
"Unless…" Jiangshu's eyes widened as an almost unthinkable answer flashed through his mind.
"Unless the entire town was arranged by me. Whether ninja, townsfolk—even that fisherman—they're all my subordinates."
A cold voice echoed slowly from the distance. "Uchiha Jiangshu, you guessed right. This entire town bears the surname Li."